Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 38-42.

In today’s passage God replies to Job.  God first asked Job rhetorical questions which revealed the human lack of comprehensive knowledge about how things in this universe work.  While modern science has answered some of these questions, the list still reveals that we as humans can never know enough to adequately question God’s decisions.  Job responds by acknowledging that he spoke out of turn with questions whose answers he would be unable to understand.  Then God followed up by asking Job how he could question God’s justice.  God had already established that Job (and by extension, all humans) lacked the knowledge to understand why and how God did what He did.  He then asked questions which indicated that mortals lack the power to implement the justice which Job demanded of God.  Those questions showed that Job (and by extension, all humans) lacked the power to understand the consequences of the action Job had demanded of God.  Job reacted to God by acknowledging that he had spoken of things to wonderful for him to know.  At some point we need to do the same, we need to acknowledge that some questions have answers which are beyond our ability to comprehend.  Yet, the conclusion to the Book of Job makes clear that Job did not sin by asking these questions, while his three friends did sin in the way in which they responded to Job’s questioning.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 38-42.

Finally, the writer presents God’s response to Job.  After all of Job’s complaints about not being able to go before God to make his case, God comes to him and speaks.  First God comes before Job and asks him to demonstrate that he has the knowledge necessary to judge God’s actions.  Job immediately realizes that he does not, that mortals do not have the capacity to know enough to understand God’s actions. Then, Job having admitted that he lacked the knowledge to judge God’s actions, God asks Job to demonstrate that he has the power to pass judgement on God’s action.  Once again Job realizes that he is completely inadequate to judge God.  In reaction to his realization of God’s power and knowledge, Job despises himself for challenging God and repents of doing so.   And this is the lesson of Job: when we encounter God we repent of considering our suffering gives us a reason to complain.  The lesson of Job explains how the martyrs were able to sing  for joy as they faced painful deaths,

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 38-42.

When God first speaks to Job in this passage, He points out how limited human knowledge of the world and the universe is.  The first monologue attributed to God asks the question, “How can we judge God’s actions when there is so much that we know nothing about?”  Then in His second monologue, God points out, that on the scale of the universe, humans lack the power to truly change things.  Together, these two things demonstrate that our finite existence leaves us unable to understand how or why God acts as He does.  Job had sought God, now when he had found Him, or, perhaps I should say, when he was found by Him, Job recognized that his claim that God had been unjust was sinful and repented before the awesomeness of God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Job 38-42.

In today’s passage God responds to Job’s demands for a hearing before Him in two parts.  It will help us to understand the lesson here if we realize that Job’s complaints can be boiled down to, “If I were God, I would do things differently.”  In His first response God asks Job about his knowledge of things which God has done in the past and over which God exercises control.  This first portion teaches us that we do not, can not, know enough to second guess God in a useful way: we do not know enough to know that things would be, could be, better if they were done differently.  In His second response to Job God asks Job about his power to do things.  This second portion teaches us that we are not powerful enough to understand what would happen if God used His power in the way we think we would if we had that power.  Ultimately, we, with our finite minds and abilities will be unable to comprehend the reasons why God has done some of the things He has done in His infinite knowledge and wisdom.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 38-42.

Job had asked to speak with God so that he could make his case before Him.  Now God replies with some questions for Job, questions which each and everyone of us should attempt to answer before we question God’s justice.  Many of these questions mankind has found answers to in the centuries since the Book of Job was written, but in doing so we have found more such questions to which we do not know the answers.  God asks Job if he has explored the depths of the sea, or knows the extent of the earth.  Since that time, mankind has explored some of the depths of the sea and discovered the extent of the earth, but we have only succeeded in exploring a small portion of those depths and have discovered that the Universe extends farther beyond this earth than our minds can comprehend.  Job’s responds to God by recognizing that he cannot begin to comprehend all that God is and does.  Despite the fact that God confronts Job over his challenge, it is Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar He demands a sacrifice from.